Trace the journey from early European-American discovery to the tireless efforts that led to Crater Lake's designation as a national park.
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A Lake Born from Volcanic Collapse
This series, Forging a National Park, traces the human story of Crater Lake — from the prospectors who stumbled upon it to the stubborn visionaries who fought for…
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A Prospector's Accidental Find at Crater Lake
John Wesley Hillman was hunting for gold, not scenery, when he nearly rode his mule off the rim in June of 1853.
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Seventeen Years to Save a Lake
As a teenager in Kansas, William Gladstone Steel read a newspaper article about a mysterious lake hidden inside a mountain in Oregon.
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From Forest Reserve to Roosevelt's Signature
It took a nine-year political campaign just to get a bill through Congress.
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Building Crater Lake for the People
During the Great Depression, young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps transformed Crater Lake from a remote protected area into an accessible national park.
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